Yesterday our very own
Sunday Brunch
writer, Reuben, and I were at Disney's Hollywood Studios and decided
to hop on the Backlot Tour, something he hadn't done for years.
While going through the warehouse I began to show him different
props from The Rocketeer, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, and more when he
pointed something out that I had never noticed before (even though I
usually pointed out Big Bunny's eyes nearly right next to it to
others around me).

What we saw was the following image:

As you can see, there are Big Bunny's eyes on the
bottom right part of the screen. A little above and to the left of
them, though is a hot air balloon with a person and chicken inside
and directly to their left sits a pig. Upon first glance I naturally
tried to figure out which film it was from when we soon realize it
wasn't from a film, but from a retired attraction!

The first big give away was the person inside the
hot air balloon. He has arms and a head that are detailed, yet his
body is clear: a standard mark of an Audio-Animatronic figure! The
clear body allows Imagineers to see the mechanisms within the Audio-Animatronic
when it doesn't have the normal clothing on. So the big question
then was, what attraction did this belong to?

The biggest give away is the fact that the show
scene clearly dealt with a hot air balloon at one point. Reuben
guessed almost instantly World of Motion. After looking at it a
little closer we noticed the chicken (from one of the most famous
scenes of the attraction) along with the look of the man seemed to
belong in this classic Epcot attraction. After further
investigation, I learned that not only were the man and chicken in
the hot air balloon during the attraction, but the pig joined them
as well!

Amazingly enough, this attraction has had parts of
it scattered throughout the parks for years now since the attraction
first closed. Several of the chickens made their way to the original
Barnstormer attraction, one of the original automobiles used to sit
in the line for Test Track, and the dragon (my favorite character
from the attraction) at one point sat in Disney's California
Adventure! So keep your eyes open for more hidden treasures next
time you are in the Backlot. But in the meantime, remember that it's
fun to be free!